North Korean state-backed hackers steal over $400 million in cryptocurrency, FBI says

The FBI said North Korean state-backed hackers stole over $400 million in cryptocurrency over 18 months using a social engineering scheme called 'FaceStealer,' which lures targets to fake video meeting software calls to infect their devices.

The FBI announced Thursday that North Korean state-backed hackers have stolen over $400 million in cryptocurrency over the past 18 months using a social engineering scheme called 'FaceStealer.' Targets are lured to video chats on imposter versions of Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet, using images secretly recorded from compromised contacts. During the call, a mock technical error prompts the target to click a link, which infects their computer and social media accounts. The FBI has identified and seized over 900 victim webcam videos. The activity is attributed to a cluster of North Korean hackers known as 'Sapphire Sleet' or UNC1069, a separate group from those linked to the recent $6.3 billion hack of cryptocurrency exchange Binance.